# Hitchhiker's guide: what's the question? (spoilers)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-whats-the-question-spoilers/298691>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [April 10, 2005, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-whats-the-question-spoilers/298691 "2005-04-10T20:23:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-whats-the-question-spoilers/298691/21 "2005-04-11T13:21:33Z")

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> [@HPL](#):
>
> Was he? I could have sworn somewhere that there was something about the residents of the 3rd ship dying off and the cavemen outliving them.
> 
> Maybe I imagined it.

Backwards – by the end of Restaurant the cavemen are all disappearing, and IIRC one of them goes off to die after Arthur fails to teach him Scrabble.

–Cliffy

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**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-whats-the-question-spoilers/298691/22 "2005-04-11T15:35:01Z")

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Yes, and that is why Arthur is saddened. Because he realizes that the Golgafrinchims will become future humans, and thus explains the stupidity of the human race, him included.

Oh, and I agree with the person who said it isn’t supposed to make sense. That’s the joke, people!

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**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-whats-the-question-spoilers/298691/23 "2005-04-11T15:51:23Z")

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> [@Stranger On A Train](#):
>
> Adams has (or rather had) stated that he picked the number 42 completely out of the air, in desparation to meet one of those wooshing deadlines he so loved to ignore. Ulterior justifications, such as a solution in base 13, or something to do with monks, et cetera are entirely incidental and just another one of those random, bizarre things that life continues to throw out, like a whale and bowl of petunias suddenly appearing twenty miles above the surface of a planet.[sup]\*[/sup]

I’ll second that. I saw Douglas Adams at a talk/book signing and someone in the crowd asked him about how he came up with “42”. He responded that he has been amazed at the effort people have put into the deeper meanings behind the number (ala base-13). The reality of it he told us was that he was writing, needed something to put in for the “Answer”, paused, looked out his window and decided “42” sounded good a few seconds later. As others have said “42” being meaningless is the joke (at least plugged together with the proper question)…looking for actual meaning in it defeats the sense the book was trying to convey.

I also recall Adams talking about a possible movie being made from the books. At the time (geez…10+ years ago…perhaps more) he said he was in the process of selling the rights and was in a meeting with a movie company exec. The exec supposedly told him something like the following (I may have it wrong but this is the sense of it)…

“We think the book is interesting and people will enjoy it but there is one issue we have. This whole search for the Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything is fine but we think the audience will feel ripped off to learn the Answer is 42.”

Adams said he was seriously worried for the future of the movie at that point.

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**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-whats-the-question-spoilers/298691/24 "2005-04-11T15:55:36Z")

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> [@WhyNot](#):
>
> We apologize for the inconvenience.

Well, I feel good about it.

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**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-whats-the-question-spoilers/298691/25 "2005-04-11T16:10:30Z")

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> [@av8rmike](#):
>
> IIRC, Prak died tesily because he was trying to give Arthur the location of God’s Final Message to His Creation, but Arthur couldn’t remember it.

> [@Life](#):
>
> Prak was quiet. For days they had lived with constant manical laughter ringing round the ship, only occasionally relieved by short periods of light giggling and sleep. Arthur’s very soul was clenched with paranoia.
> 
> This was not the silence of sleep. A buzzer sounded. A glance at a board told them that the buzzer had been sounded by Prak.
> 
> “He’s not well,” said Trillian quietly. “The constant laughing is completely wrecking his body.”
> 
> …
> 
> “There is one other thing I can remember from the truth drug. Apart from the frogs, and that is God’s last message to his creation. Would you like to hear it?”
> 
> For a moment they didn’t know whether to take him seriously.
> 
> “'Strue,” he said. “For real. I mean it.”
> 
> His chest heaved weakly and he struggled for breath. His head lolled slightly.
> 
> “I wasn’t very impressed with it when I first knew what it was,” he said, “but now I think back to how impressed I was by the Prince’s Reason, and how soon afterwards I couldn’t recall it at all, I think it might be a lot more helpful. Would you like to know what it is? Would you?”
> 
> They nodded dumbly.
> 
> “I bet you would. If you’re that interested I suggest you go and look for it. It is written in thirty-foot-high letters of fire on top of the Quentulus Quazgar Mountains in the land of Sevorbeupstry on the planet Preliumtarn, third out from the sun Zarss in Galactic Sector QQ7 Active J Gamma. It is guarded by the  
> Lajestic Vantrashell of Lob.”
> 
> There was a long silence following this announcement, which was finally broken by Arthur. “Sorry, it’s where?” he said.
> 
> “It is written,” repeated Prak, “in thirty-foot-high letters of fire on top of the Quentulus Quazgar Mountains in the land of Sevorbeupstry on the planet Preliumtarn, third out from the …”
> 
> “Sorry,” said Arthur again, “which mountains?”
> 
> “The Quentulus Quazgar Mountains in the land of Sevorbeupstry on the planet …”
> 
> “Which land was that? I didn’t quite catch it.”
> 
> “Sevorbeupstry, on the planet …”
> 
> “Sevorbe-what?”
> 
> “Oh, for heaven’s sake,” said Prak and died testily.

So, yeah, he died testily, but from the laughter (all the bits about frogs, I guess), not due to Arthur’s insufficiency.

I liked the story of Reason, which Prak related before he died, but it’s rather too long to quote here. It puts so much of human behavior in perspective.

Stranger

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-whats-the-question-spoilers/298691/26 "2005-04-11T16:33:23Z")

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> [@Taber](#):
>
> Now that the disclaimers are out of the way, the first theory would be the one explicitly stated in the book “What do you get if you multiply 6 by 9?” This of course does not multiply into 42, implying that the universe does not make sense, and provides a great anticlimax.

```auto

#include <stdio.h>

#define SIX 1 + 5
#define NINE 8 + 1

int main() {
        printf("six times nine = %d
", SIX * NINE);
}

```

Works for me.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-whats-the-question-spoilers/298691/27 "2005-04-11T16:37:13Z")

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> [@friedo](#):
>
> ```auto
> 
> #include <stdio.h>
> 
> #define SIX 1 + 5
> #define NINE 8 + 1
> 
> int main() {
> printf("six times nine = %d
> ", SIX * NINE);
> }
> 
> ```
> 
> Works for me.

That line should be printf("%d times %d = %d  
", SIX, NINE, SIX \* NINE);.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Taber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@Taber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taber)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-whats-the-question-spoilers/298691/28 "2005-04-11T16:48:57Z")

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> [@Marley23](#):
>
> People, this thing wasn’t intended to be a brain teaser. The Question was “What do you get if you multiply six times nine?” and the answer is 42. It doesn’t work, you’re left to think, because the universe, fundamentally, is just off. By 12. In the universe of Hitchhiker’s, you can’t just puzzle your way into the whole thing making sense, like saying “Oh, it’s base 13.” If the answer isn’t _wrong_, the joke doesn’t work, and it’d be totally out of keeping for the Ultimate Question and Answer in that universe to be deep, satisfying, correct, or even comprehensible because that universe is none of those things.

Well, sure, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun arguing about it does it?

And I would argue that the joke would be how inconsequential the question is, compared the Life, the Universe, and everything, rather than that the question doesn’t mathematically work. I mean, Douglas Adams seriously implies that the scrabble bag answer isn’t the actual question, due to interferences with the Earth. What do you get if you multiply 6 by 7? is just about as anticlimactic anyway.

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**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-whats-the-question-spoilers/298691/29 "2005-04-11T16:53:03Z")

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> [@friedo](#):
>
> ```auto
> 
> #include <stdio.h>
> 
> #define SIX 1 + 5
> #define NINE 8 + 1
> 
> int main() {
> printf("six times nine = %d
> ", SIX * NINE);
> }
> 
> ```
> 
> Works for me.

Those little coding oversights will get you every time.

😃

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![av8rmike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/edb3f5/32.png) [@av8rmike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/av8rmike)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-whats-the-question-spoilers/298691/30 "2005-04-11T18:28:23Z")

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> [@Stranger On A Train](#):
>
> So, yeah, he died testily, but from the laughter (all the bits about frogs, I guess), not due to Arthur’s insufficiency.
> 
> I liked the story of Reason, which Prak related before he died, but it’s rather too long to quote here. It puts so much of human behavior in perspective.

Oh, sorry, I didn’t my copy of the book with me to work, just in case I might need to quote entire paragraphs to prove someone else wrong… :rolleyes:

But yeah, the story of The Reason. It comes to mind every time I’m in some kind of discussion with people who want to know The Reason behind something. You go to look something up, and by the time you find it, you don’t remember why you were looking it up, and you don’t remember it by the next time the subject comes up. That’s my job to a ‘T’. 🙂

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**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-whats-the-question-spoilers/298691/31 "2005-04-11T18:51:57Z")

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I’m going with what the mice went with:

“How many roads must a man walk down?”

Yes, I know the mice borrowed that particular question just to have something intriguing and nonspecific enough to go on the talk-show circuit with. Fair’s fair, though - that question was after all a byproduct of their planetary computer’s computation.

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**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-whats-the-question-spoilers/298691/32 "2005-04-11T18:53:01Z")

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> [@av8rmike](#):
>
> Oh, sorry, I didn’t my copy of the book with me to work, just in case I might need to quote entire paragraphs to prove someone else wrong… :rolleyes:

Well, I can quote whole passages from memory[sup]\*[/sup], but you can actually find the text of all the Hitchhiker’s novels online. (Not sure that it’s legal, copywrite wise, so I’m not going to post the url, but you can search for it.)

Stranger

- Yeah, I know. :rolleyes:

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**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-whats-the-question-spoilers/298691/33 "2005-04-11T20:05:32Z")

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> [@HPL](#):
>
> Was he? I could have sworn somewhere that there was something about the residents of the 3rd ship dying off and the cavemen outliving them.
> 
> Maybe I imagined it.

They’re not cavemen.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-whats-the-question-spoilers/298691/34 "2005-04-11T20:23:38Z")

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> [@FordPrefect](#):
>
> They’re not cavemen.

They look like cavemen.

😃

Stranger

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-whats-the-question-spoilers/298691/35 "2005-04-11T20:35:08Z")

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> [@Stranger On A Train](#):
>
> They look like cavemen.
> 
> 😃
> 
> Stranger

🙂

Given my username, that was a setup I could not refuse

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-whats-the-question-spoilers/298691/36 "2005-04-11T21:00:11Z")

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> [@Taber](#):
>
> Well, sure, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun arguing about it does it?

Far as I know.

> [@](#):
>
> What do you get if you multiply 6 by 7? is just about as anticlimactic anyway.

Yeah, but it’s not as funny if the math is right.

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**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-whats-the-question-spoilers/298691/37 "2005-04-11T21:02:47Z")

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My take was always that the whole:

> [@](#):
>
> There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.
> 
> There is another which states that this has already happened.

relates to Fenchurch, and that her discovery of the question bifurcated the universe into two possibilities: one that was even more bizarre and inexplicable, and one in which she was destroyed along with the answer to maintain that universal constant. That’s why there is one universe in which the earth was destroyed, and plenty of others, it seems, where it exists (sometimes with dreary thigh-biting creatures).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-whats-the-question-spoilers/298691/38 "2005-04-11T21:03:45Z")

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But what Fenchurch discovers isn’t even a question. It’s just a statement that would make everybody feel better about things.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-whats-the-question-spoilers/298691/39 "2005-04-11T21:09:15Z")

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> [@iamthewalrus(:3=](#):
>
> My take was always that the whole:  
> relates to Fenchurch, and that her discovery of the question bifurcated the universe into two possibilities: one that was even more bizarre and inexplicable, and one in which she was destroyed along with the answer to maintain that universal constant. That’s why there is one universe in which the earth was destroyed, and plenty of others, it seems, where it exists (sometimes with dreary thigh-biting creatures).

The multi-universe deal didn’t have anything to do with Fenchurch. I can’t recall right now why there were multiple universes, but I am pretty sure the Vogons were involved.

The thigh-biting creatures, “It was probably trying to say ‘Hello’” and “Fuck the ducks.” were the only two parts I found amusing in that book. “Fuck the ducks” had me laughing for days though 🙂

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2005, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitchhikers-guide-whats-the-question-spoilers/298691/40 "2005-04-11T21:11:09Z")

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> [@iamthewalrus(:3=](#):
>
> That’s why there is one universe in which the earth was destroyed, and plenty of others, it seems, where it exists (sometimes with dreary thigh-biting creatures).

You must be referring to that book that Adams started on but never published. Something to do with a Guide Mk II and multiple universes…sounds awful. I’m glad he never went anywhere with that. It was an evolutionary dead end. So to speak.

I do wish he’d managed more Dirk Gently novels, though.

Stranger

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